DRM Industry Gets Defensive Over Steve Jobs' Comments

from the DRM-makes-things-more-valuable? dept

It would appear that the DRM industry is starting to get a bit defensive about that whole Steve Jobs doesn't like DRM thing. Boing Boing points out that DRM maker Macrovision has written its own response to Steve Jobs where it tries to explain that he misunderstands DRM. Apparently, according to Macrovision, DRM really increases the value of content while decreasing the cost. This is one of those up is down, night is day type arguments -- but it's certainly not new. Macrovision has been claiming the same thing for many years. Four years ago they were talking about how DRM would make it so CDs and DVDs would be much more valuable, and would allow for differentiation, so consumers who just wanted the content could get it cheaper and those who wanted more could pay more. Of course, in the four years, that hasn't exactly happened. Instead, all that DRM has done is make the cost of producing CDs (and DVDs) more expensive (which is why some movie studios have been ditching Macrovision's DRM on their DVDs) while making the experience less convenient for consumers. It seems like Macrovision is starting with a few different assumptions that are false, including that DRM actually protects content, and that ruins the rest of the company's argument.

Re:

Macrovision has always been a problem even in the analog days of VHS - they're full of shit and they know it. What other choices do the have but to defend their business? Even though time after time their protection gets broken and the time has proven that copy protection doesn't actually help anyone but actually hurts customers and doesn't stop piracy.

losing business

Does Macrovision work?

I remember when Macrovision was an annoyance on my old VCR but in trying to back up any of my own DVD's I've never noticed it doing anything aside from being a logo on the first screen. Has their digital product ever worked?

How do you disable Macrovision?

Yeah, like this Macrovision guy has nothing to gain. It would be like Exxon saying that burning their oil actually cleans the atmosphere. We should believe him because he is just a concerned citizen.

I remember Macrovision actually ruining my VD, DVD and VHS "experience" by making the picture fade in and out slightly. I have not seen that in years.
How do you "disable" macrovision anyhow? I didn't know that was possible.

DRM is dying, not yet dead

DRM is don't dead yet, my friends. As long as copyrights exist, copyright owners will try to somehow protect their content.

In the end, DRM does its job, but there are too many alternative illegal sources out there that are largely not policed, easily accessed, and comparable (or better) in quality than the legal stuff. This is what has to change.

Now, I'm not calling for an end to p2p. No, that would make me cry... What I'm calling for is a new value-added scheme. Stop differentiating by adding DRM; do so by adding value! For example, bundling purchased music with discounted concert tix or something. That way, I'll want to buy the music/movies.